Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH) Sets New 1-Year High at $57.18

Commerce Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBSH - Get Free Report)'s stock price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $57.18 and last traded at $56.74, with a volume of 85901 shares. The stock had previously closed at $56.41.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on CBSH. Bank of America began coverage on Commerce Bancshares in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $55.00 price target on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Commerce Bancshares from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. StockNews.com upgraded Commerce Bancshares from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Commerce Bancshares from $46.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, Raymond James upgraded Commerce Bancshares from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $61.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Commerce Bancshares has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $55.00.

Commerce Bancshares Stock Up 1.2 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $7.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.73 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $53.12 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $51.73.

Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.86 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.80 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $397.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $389.49 million. Commerce Bancshares had a return on equity of 16.78% and a net margin of 23.33%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.90 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Commerce Bancshares, Inc. will post 3.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Commerce Bancshares Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 5th will be issued a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 5th. This represents a $1.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.89%. Commerce Bancshares's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.12%.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Douglas D. Neff sold 614 shares of Commerce Bancshares stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.25, for a total value of $30,853.50. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 8,038 shares of the company's stock, valued at $403,909.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Douglas D. Neff sold 614 shares of Commerce Bancshares stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.25, for a total value of $30,853.50. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 8,038 shares of the company's stock, valued at $403,909.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Robert S. Holmes sold 5,000 shares of Commerce Bancshares stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.66, for a total value of $263,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 50,293 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,648,429.38. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 3.10% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Commerce Bancshares

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,372,518 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $660,816,000 after buying an additional 558,017 shares during the period. Commerce Bank lifted its position in Commerce Bancshares by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 7,222,818 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $385,771,000 after acquiring an additional 196,431 shares during the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN boosted its holdings in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 7.1% during the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 2,345,252 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $125,260,000 after acquiring an additional 155,526 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Commerce Bancshares by 22.0% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,676,350 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $89,541,000 after purchasing an additional 302,630 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Commerce Bancshares during the fourth quarter worth approximately $71,835,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.26% of the company's stock.

About Commerce Bancshares

Commerce Bancshares, Inc operates as the bank holding company for Commerce Bank that provides retail, mortgage banking, corporate, investment, trust, and asset management products and services to individuals and businesses in the United States. It operates through three segments: Consumer, Commercial, and Wealth.